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For tonight, I just want to drop a line apologizing for the dearth of my Twitter activity, and that I'll be using it once again. It'll be both a personal log and one for the site at large. Should the site ever go down, you'll also find updates there at twitter.com/DiremanPress.

Now Playing - Trying to find the time to play Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) and Borderlands (360)
Xbox Live/PSN Gamertag - Vawce

Diplomacy V - Fall 1906

Austria struck back against dastardly Italy. Curiously, he elected to leave Tunisia in Italian hands. Now that both have had their noses bloodied, could they possibly forgive each other and rejoin forces to deal with the rise of France?

Alas, poor England. We barely knew thee.

France is the new preeminent power. I noted this previously, but this turnaround is nothing short of stunning. France has gone from facing a double-team induced elimination on the break, to securing two corners of the board. England has been completely subdued. France just needs a wee bit more time to swing his forces to the front, and make a final push. Whether or not the others will allow that time remains to be seen.

Germany staved off a joint invasion, and is now positioned where he ought to have been more than half a dozen turns ago. Unfortunately, the political reality has shifted greatly since then. He needs to hit France, but lacks the navy to do so in earnest. But if France's expansion can be halted, he stands to be an equal member in a new multipolar balance of power.

Italy's gambit failed due to a lack of political backing. He ended up unilaterally attacking the rest of the world, and paid the price. He still is a major power, just not the preeminent one. We can't second guess his gamble without being privy to the accompanying negotiations, but his one demonstrable error was in neglecting to maintain a balance of power in the northwest. Instead, he fed the beast that is now the formidable French Empire. Unless he makes nice with Austria and/or Germany, France should win this game.

Russia played to survive, and survive he has. All of his forces are arrayed in the south; will he assist France by attacking those that could stop him?